SNOHOMISH — The school district’s proposal to move sixth graders from elementary school to middle school in 2025 is creating vigorous conversation among parents of elementary-age children.
Superintendent Kent Kultgen sees the change as a way to broaden the education of sixth graders. Being in middle school also opens the ability to participate in one dozen electives such as choir or robotics one year earlier, and have what the district calls “a well-rounded middle school experience” of three years.
“I truly believe moving the sixth grade is a good move,” Kultgen addressed the crowd at a community meeting held last week at Valley View Middle School, but “we need to do it in a way” that is comprehensively thought out, he said. “This is a big deal.”
Many parents, though, see sixth graders as not developmentally ready for middle school and all that comes with it.
Today’s fourth graders would be the initial group being bumped up to middle school in 2025. These are the same kids who entered first grade already six months into the coronavirus pandemic where all learning was online.
The five-member school board has the final say. The board’s vote is scheduled for Feb. 28.
About 40 parents came to the district’s community meeting at Valley View Middle School Jan. 9. A second public meeting was held at Centennial Middle School Tuesday, Jan. 16 after press time.
The district plans to have more answers at the board meetings on Jan. 24 and Feb. 14. The board meets at 1601 Ave. D in the district board room.
The maturity level and innocence of 11-year-olds has been a recurring theme.
“When you look at sixth graders, sixth graders are still young,” said Brooke Cray, a mom in the Totem Falls Elementary parent-teacher organization.
Parents “don’t feel sixth graders are ready for a culture of seventh and eighth graders,” parent Shannon George said to the school board last week.
Middle school students go from classroom to classroom, similar to high school. The district wants to use a six-period schedule. One period would be set for electives.
Kultgen said that having sixth graders be in advanced math classes such as algebra and geometry particularly got his attention.
“Our sixth-grade teachers are experts, but we’re asking them to be experts in three or four subjects” in the elementary schools, Kultgen said on why this benefits students’ educations.
Kultgen told the Tribune that “we’re not doing this for space reasons at all,” although repositioning sixth grade to the district’s middle schools means the district will need to use fewer portable classrooms at its elementary schools.
The district has two middle schools: Centennial and Valley View.
Adding 970 to 1,100 sixth graders to Centennial Middle School would require adding three or four portables, deputy superintendent Shawn Stevenson said. Valley View has enough space to go without portables, he said.
Quite a few parents said they think the district has made up its mind already.
Kultgen said that’s not true. “The decision has not already been made,” Kultgen addressed the audience at Valley View.
If the board votes yes, the district would spend 18 months “to work through making sure the transition is smooth,” Kultgen said.
The meeting at Valley View “shined a light on a lot we need to look at,” Kultgen said at the Jan. 10 school board meeting.
Some other answers are:
• A sixth grader’s day would be four core subjects, an elective and, for fall semester, the fifth period would be for P.E. For spring semester, the fifth period would be used for a class on skills-building.
• Sixth graders would have a separate lunch time.
• Some would be riding buses with high schoolers. More than half of bus routes carry middle schoolers and high schoolers together, district business services director Tom Laufmann said. The middle schoolers and high schoolers are separated in the bus, he said.
• The district intends to add more counselors at the middle schools, human resources director Darryl Pernat told a parent at the Valley View meeting. Each middle school today has two full-time counselors.
• Class sizes won’t change, Stevenson, the deputy superintendent, said.
More than one parent said they specifically bought a home in the Snohomish School District because it uses the K-6 model, unlike all nearby districts that are K-5.
“I don’t know if the Snohomish School District realizes how valuable it is,” a parent said at the Valley View meeting.
Another, a dad named Kevin who declined to give a reporter his last name, asked: “Why are we changing a good thing?”
School board members Sherri Larkin and Shaunna Ballas attended the Valley View meeting. The meeting presented questions the board hadn’t thought of before, Larkin said.
A few parents said the timeline feels rushed.
The district gave a heads-up about the proposal in a notice around Thanksgiving. A follow-up letter to the community went out Dec. 8.
Since the school board is scheduled for a vote Feb. 28, more than one parent said they should have been involved much earlier in the process.
“We feel like without us having a voice, we feel written off,” Courtnée Skipps, a co-president of the Seattle Hill parent-teacher organization, said.
Totem Falls Elementary parent Caryn Taylor-Fiebig would like to see a longer discussion period and possibly have the change be put on a voter’s ballot. Northshore Public Schools took four years to implement its change from K-6 to K-5, and that was tied to a bond measure, she noted.
“We deserve to be given clearly articulated data that demonstrates the district can improve our children’s education by this reconfiguration and that the district has considered all ramifications of it,” Taylor-Fiebig said in a statement at the school board meeting.
The district has a frequently asked questions webpage for additional questions about the change at www.sno.wednet.edu/Page/6408
Prior coverage:
Snohomish Schools proposes moving sixth graders to middle school starting in 2025-26 school year
SNOHOMISH — The Snohomish School District is taking steps to shift sixth grade from elementary school to middle school beginning with the 2025-26 school year. The public's opinions are being taken. By the end of February the school board will be given a recommendation.
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